


Welcome to Eden!

by 101places



Series: h [1]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen, clara & me are in it but theyre not the main focus, so i dont wanna tag them, this is just a backstory thingy for an rp im doing uuhhh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 15:13:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14673747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/101places/pseuds/101places
Summary: An ex-CIA agent finds a new home in the garden of Eden.





	Welcome to Eden!

**Author's Note:**

> uhhhh another rp thingy idk man

There was a group of five visitors to the planet Eden.

One was a short immortal called Me, leading the way confidently. Every now and then she’d glance back to the taller human by her side, checking to make sure she hadn’t gotten lost in the dense shrubbery. She needn’t have bothered, though. Jazz had enough common sense not to wander off while on a planet like this.

A few paces behind was a young Catkind, aptly named Cat. She tried to keep up with Me and Jazz’s long strides, but with her tiny legs found herself having to walk twice as fast. That, paired with the roots sticking up from the ground every now and then, was making this quite an exhausting walk. But she didn’t complain.

Further back, making sure that Cat didn’t fall too far behind, was another immortal. She was holding hands with a reanimated skeleton- one that seemed to have originally belonged to a child. She didn’t seem to care about the horror-factor of it, and the skeleton itself seemed to enjoy her presence.

Finally, trailing behind the group was a man who didn’t really seem to belong.

The girls he was following walked with confidence and wore smiles on their faces. Clearly, they’d been here before and were utterly comfortable. He was the odd one out.

The man, Sal, had never been to Eden before. In fact, he hadn’t even known that it had existed before today, and now, knowing what it was, he felt more than a little bit uncomfortable. He didn’t feel like he should be here.

In fact, looking over at the woman just a few steps in front of him, he felt that he shouldn’t be in this company at all.

See, only a few days ago, it had been his mission to capture that woman and bring her to her death. He’d spent the past years, decades- centuries, maybe even- chasing her and her rag-tag friends through time and space, and he’d been happy to. He’d understood why it was necessary, and on his pride as a member of the Celestial Intervention Agency, he’d been determined to succeed.

Then an attempt to capture her had gone wrong, and he’d been separated from his partner, trapped and stranded with the enemy.

At first, there’d been confusion. Distrust. Open hostility. But then…

_ “Look, if we’re going to be trapped here then we might as well try to get along.” _

She’d offered an olive branch. And, even more miraculously, he’d accepted it.

It hadn’t been easy, and it hadn’t been fast, but slowly they began to open up. She told him her story, and he told her his, and they began to realise that maybe they weren’t the demonised enemy that they’d both thought of the other to be.

After that, Sal hadn’t meant to change anything. Capturing her was still his duty, and it was an important one. But, still, when his partner had finally arrived to rescue him and capture her, at the very last moment, he’d made his choice.

He’d turned his weapon on them, and he’d fired. Then, he’d grabbed Clara’s hand, and he’d ran.

And ran, and ran, and ran, until they ran into the arms of her friends, and flew away from the people that Sal should have been loyal to above all others.

…And now, here he was.

After betraying the Time Lords, Sal couldn’t go back home. He was a renegade, who knew what would happen if he ever tried to return? But he couldn’t stay with Clara and her friends either. His opinion of them may have softened, but the thought of running around the universe with two immortals in a stolen TARDIS made him feel sick to his stomach.

So Me had suggested this, as a compromise.

This planet was called Eden. Or, at least, that was how the humans had taken to calling it, and the name had started to catch on. Officially, this planet did not exist. No matter how hard Sal had searched, he could find no record of its existence anywhere. Even in the Matrix itself, there was simply nothing.

“For good reason, too,” Clara had explained as Me set the co-ordinates, “First time I ever went there it was a nightmare. Nearly died so many times. Quicksand, forest fires, huge drops, giant bloody snakes, then the icing on the cake- the literal devil. Definitely up there in the top three worst planets ever, right alongside Trenzalore and Gallifrey- uh, no offence.”

“It has automated security, to ensure that no one who crashlands there can leave and spread rumours about its existence.” Me chimed in. “It holds in it all of the knowledge of the universe. Enough to drive anyone who consumes it mad… in theory.”

If such a thing really existed, the Time Lords would know of it. That’s what Sal had thought. But as these immortals and their friends were beginning to show him, the Time Lords weren’t the be-all-end-all of the universe.

Still, it was difficult to believe that this planet held such a powerful secret. From what he could tell of it so far, all it held was an annoying amount of plants. Seriously, if one more leaf landed on his head, he was going to lose it.

Thankfully, before he was given the opportunity to begin to complain aloud, they reached the end of the forest. There was an open clearing before them, and a city could be seen in the not-too-far distance. Sal let out a quiet sigh of relief. Thank Rassilon.

He went to take another step forwards, but the small skeleton that had been clinging onto Clara darted forwards and grabbed his arm instead, stopping him in his tracks.

“Wha--” He looked down at it.

Ahead, Cat stopped walking and hummed nervously, “Something feels wrong.”

Before the others were given a chance to react to her warning, the ground before them gave way, and they fell.

Where Sal was standing, he was just outside the pitfall. None of the others were as lucky. With a shout of alarm he disentangled his arm from the skeleton and rushed forwards, but he was too late. All that was left was a deep hole.

“Can you hear me!?” He called into it, but the only thing that answered him was his own voice, echoing.

He sat back, staring into the hole blankly. Was this it? Were they just all dead now? Oh, Rassilon, had he led Clara somewhere that would prevent her from returning to her death? He couldn’t feel the Web of Time unravelling, but that anxious thought wouldn’t leave his mind. What if he’d just condemned the entire universe?

“Oho, what’s this?” A playful, feminine voice spoke up.

Sal pulled himself out of his thoughts and whirled around to face the newcomer. He could feel her presence- a Time Lady, then. Going from her appearance, she didn’t seem to be with Gallifrey. So a renegade?

“Who are you?” He decided to just be upfront with it.

“That’s so rude! You’re the trespasser, you should identify yourself!”

His eyes narrowed. “I asked first.”

“No you did not!”

The stranger sighed and leaned against a tree. Then, she reached up, plucked a leaf from a low-hanging branch, and began to chew on it. Sal looked on in horror.

“What… why did you do that?”

“Do what?”

Sal indicated to the leaves, then to her. “That!”

She looked at the leaves and realisation dawned. “Oh! They taste nice. Here, try one.”

She plucked another leaf and darted over. Before Sal was given a chance to protest, she forced it into his mouth.

And… it did taste nice, actually.

Really nice.

Sal felt a wave of calm wash over him. His anxieties died, and he felt as though he could face whatever came next.

“...My name’s… well, people call me Sal.” He introduced, looking up at her blearily.

“I’m the Botanist! Nice to meet you, Sal!”

Sal’s eyes began to droop. Normally, this would alarm him. But not right now. With a tired smile, Sal thought to himself, ‘Everything is going to be okay’, and then he collapsed.

* * *

“You can’t just drug all of my friends!”

“I didn’t know he was your friend, in my defence.”

“You shouldn’t be drugging people, full stop!”

“Since when did you have other friends, anyway?”

“That! Is really, really rude! I have lots of friends!”

“Name one who isn’t in this room.”

“The Doctor.”

“One who actually knows who you are.”

“That’s a low blow!”

Sal squinted his eyes open. He was laying down somewhere… white. Some med bay? What happened? The last thing he remembered was… walking through Eden, and- oh! That’s right, everyone fell down a hole. Clara, Me, Cat, Jazz- where were- oh?

All four of them were in the room.

Sal sat up and frowned. He felt like he was missing something here.

“You all fell down a pitfall.”

Me, who had previously been stood in the corner of the room, nodded and straightened up. “We did.”

Cat looked a little bit sheepish. “Sorry. I wasn’t supposed to say anything. I forgot.”

“Don’t feel too bad about it. They did this to me too, first time I came here.” Jazz smiled apologetically.

Sal was starting to catch on, but to make sure he wasn’t jumping to conclusions, turned to Clara.

“The Botanist is in charge of this planet. She can’t have just anyone knowing the way to the heart, so she arranges to have newcomer brought here unawares. She did background screening on you while you were unconscious, and you passed. Sorry about the leaf though, those’re never pleasant.”

The Botanist? ...Ah. Right. That was… the other lady in the room.

Unlike Sal’s previous companions, the Botanist didn’t seem the slightest bit shamed about what had happened.

“So, Sal! I hear you wanna join Eden!” The Botanist beamed.

Sal hesitated. “Will it involve more drugging?”

“Nope! All it is is hanging around with me and showing intruders the door! Pretty simple, but super important!”

He sighed. “...Well, it’s not as if I have anywhere else to go. At least the Time Lords won’t be able to find me here.”

“That’s the spirit!” The Botanist reached forwards and grabbed Sal’s hand, pulling him off the table and towards the door, ignoring his exclamations of protest, “Come on! I’ll show you around! You’ll  _ love _ all the leaves!”

Still in the room, Me turned to Clara and raised an eyebrow, “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

Clara laughed. “After all the hell he put us through? Yeah. Maybe, just a little bit. But, between you and me, I think he’s going to fit in here just fine.”


End file.
